Now let's talk about the Champions League

The Champions' Cup is in the rear view mirror -- at least we hope.  So now CONCACAF can turn its attention to the creation of the Champions League.  There were a few details during its unveiling earlier this year, but there were a lot more questions about timing, sponsorships, television, prize money, and so on.  Perhaps the most important question is this:  Can a confederation, not known for smooth organization or efficiency, put together a credible and successful revamp of its premier club competition within 120 days?

There are four primary issues that I believe CONCACAF must address in order to make the new Champions League a success.  They are prize money, sponsorship, TV rights, and event presentation.

Prize money

As a starting point in the discussion I want to show the prize money awarded to participants in the Champions League competitions around the world.   I tried to get figures for the most recent tournament played, but I couldn't always find them, so I'm not going to claim 100% accuracy, but I think the monetary amounts given are close to the actual amounts.  Another thing to note is that prize money comes from different sources (TV rights, sponsors, gate receipts, merchandising) and also includes bonuses.

Let's start with the Copa Libertadores.  There are 38 entrants;  twelve teams play each other in a qualifying round and the surviving teams join the other 26 in the group stage.  The payouts listed below are derived from TV rights (2008):

Round	Payout
Group Stage (8 groups)	$115k (per home match)
Round of 16 Winners	$161k
Quarterfinal Winners	$207k
Semifinal Winners	$287.5k
Runner-up	$345k
Champion	$575k + $2M bonus (Santander)

The African Champions League has a series of knockout rounds before the group stage involving the last eight teams.  Here are the payouts for the group stage and beyond (2006):

Round	Payout
4th place Group Stage	$190k
3rd place Group Stage	$261.25k
Semifinalist	$427.5k
Runner-up	$665k
Champion	$950k + $1M bonus (MTN)

The UEFA Champions League has three preliminary knockout rounds before the group stage comprised of 32 teams.  Payouts are for the group stage and beyond (2006-2007):

Round	Payout
Group Stage (8 groups)	€3M + €800k (x 3 home games) + Performance bonus + Market Pool
Advance to Round of 16	€2.2M
Quarterfinal Winners	€2.5M
Semifinal Winners	€3M
Runner-up	€4M
Champion	€7M

I couldn't find any prize money figures for the Asian or Oceania Champions Leagues, but according to this link at Wikipedia saying that the winner of the Asian Champions League receives $600k and the runner-up $400k.  However, those amounts will significantly increase in next year's competition.

It should be obvious that CONCACAF is not going to give out UEFA-level cash to participating clubs in its Champions League.  It probably won't be able to award $15 million in prizes from TV rights alone, like the Copa Libertadores.  But at minimum, the CONCACAF competition needs to have a total purse on the order of the African or Asian competitions, which would run close to $4-6 million.  It would still be small in comparison to anything the Mexican clubs could make in the South American tournaments, but the prize money would be tremendous to the Caribbean and Central American clubs, and it would also get the attention of the MLS clubs as well.  Heck, any money would be preferable to the prize money awarded in the Champions Cup -- which was next to nothing.

Sponsorships

Time for some more comparisons.  Here is a list of the principal sponsors of the Champions League competitions around the world -- I just went to the websites of the different competitions and noted the sponsors listed.  If I missed some let me know.

Confederation	Sponsors
UEFA	Heineken, SONY, Vodafone, Mastercard, Ford
CONMEBOL	Banco Santander
CAF	MTN
AFC	Aramex, Emirates, EPSON, ING, Panasonic, Toyota, Viszo, Nikon, etisalat
OFC	???

Upon closer study of the list, one will find companies in the financial services, telecommunications, automotive, beverages, shipping and transportation industries.  Given the global appeal of the UEFA Champions League, there are companies with international reach.  Banco Santander has extensive business interests in South America, so their sponsorship of Copa Libertadores makes sense.  MTN is a major telecommunications company based in South Africa with a growing African footprint.  The Asian Champions League is sponsored by a combination of companies from the Far East and the Gulf States (with the exception of ING).  So whatever companies CONCACAF seek out, they should be companies that are recognized throughout the region and involved in industries important to the people there.

So at minimum, CONCACAF should get sponsors from:

• an automotive manufacturer
• a financial services company (banks, money transfers)
• a telecommunications company
• an electronics company
• a beverage company

Some of these sponsorship possibilities may not be likely due to the economic climate, but they should still be pursued.

Television

One of the motivations for having a Champions League in Europe was that the major teams in the bigger European leagues would be playing a minimum number of matches against European opposition, a point that UEFA could make to national broadcasters when negotiating rates.  I'm sure that CONCACAF has the same motivation for their League, but here the situation is different.  Only FOX Sports International broadcast the Champions' Cup matches., and I don't know if FOX had to pay any kind of fee to show the matches.  FOX Sports will most likely remain their primary broadcast partner, but it remains to be seen whether CONCACAF can coax a broadcast fee from them.   It also remains to be seen if any of the Spanish-language networks in the USA would be interested in making a bid.  They would have segments of the audience interested not only in the Mexican clubs, but the participating Central American clubs as well.

Presentation

The presentation of the Champions Cup, from signage to the pitch entrances, has improved over the years.  But with the Champions League, it has to feel like you're watching something special.  That's what UEFA has been able to do so successfully with their competition.  When the teams enter the field, the  starry ball flag is floated over the center circle, and the theme music is played with the players standing at attention, you KNOW that it's the Champions League.  CONCACAF needs to think very deeply on how they want the matches to be presented from the perspectives of a spectator and a TV watcher, and then draw up some rules that govern matters such as signage, pitch entrances, security, permissible PA announcements and so on.

-----

In sum, CONCACAF have an ambitious task in the next four months, and any announcements on these four issues and any other matters need to be forthcoming.  In order to make the Champions League a success, the federation will have to show a level of foresight, planning, and organization that, frankly, has been lacking in any of their previous endeavors.   The Champions League is not just a chance for CONCACAF to make some money for itself and the participating clubs.  It's also an opportunity for the federation to grow up and be taken seriously -- in and out of the region.

UPDATE:  I made a couple of corrections and clarifications to the original post.  And welcome BigSoccer readers!

Comments

[Hou-Mon]

According to the this article Univision has exclusive rights to broadcast the CCL in the US. It also states that it will broadcast 52 games primarly on TeleFutura and Galavsion with instant updates on Univision.